Circular loom and driving means therefor



May 18, 1937. F. c. HALE ET AL 2,080,819

CIRCULAR LOOM AND DRIVING MEANS THEREFOR Filed July 16, 1935 PatentedMay 18, 1937 UNITED STATES CIRCULAR LOOM AND DRIVING MEANS THEREFORFrank Corbyn Hale and Robert Yeadon, Spondon, near Derby, England,assignors to Celanese Corporation Delaware of America, a corporationofApplication July 16, 1935, Serial No. 31,600

- In Great Britain July 23, 1934 2 Claim.

This invention relates to circular looms, and in particular to thepositioning of theshuttles in such looms, the driving of the shuttlesrelatively to the warps, in the event of thread failure or breakage. Theinvention relates particularly to circular looms of the type in whichthe shuttles are positioned within the sheds formed by the warpsdisposed cylindrically or substantially cylindrically by means ofrotating vane wheels penetrating one sheet of warps at each shuttle andentering recesses in the shuttle, slots between the vanes permitting thethreads of the penetrated sheet of warps to pass the vane wheels as thevane wheels rotate.

In order to carry thevane wheels and the driving means for rotating themabout their axes, and other associated mechanism, a ring is providedoutside and close to the warp threads, and in the case (with which thepresent invention is concerned) wherein the warps are non-rotating, thering is caused to rotate about the central axis of the loom in order todrive the shuttles round the loom. In the event of thread failure orbreakage it becomes necessary to prevent the continued rotation of thisdriven member-a problem that becomes increasingly more difi'icult as thespeed of operation of the loom increases, for in order to avoid warpdamage, the relative motion between warps and shuttles must cease withinthe same linear space with high speeds of operation as with low speeds,and therefore the time in which stoppage of weaving must be accomplimedis proportionately less as the speed of operation increases.

The rapid stopping of weaving is efiected according to the invention byinterposing in the drive to the vane-wheel supporting ring amagneticclutch which is operated immediately upon detection of threadfailure or breakage to disconnect the ring practically instantaneouslyfrom the driving means of the loom. 'With' this arrangement, theshuttle-supporting ring is practically the sole moving part to bebrought to rest, and a powerful brake actuated simultaneously with therelease of the clutch stops the ring after only a very small angularmovement of the ring. Thus, the ring may be formed or provided with anannular gear driven by a pinion on a shaft in which the clutch isincorporated. Therefore, when the clutch is de-energized, the brake hasmerely to bring to rest the ring and the pinion together, of course,with the vane-wheel shafts and their driving gear carried by the ringand the shuttles supported by the vane wheels. All

and the stopping of the loom the drive following detection of warpjamming with extreme rapidity. With advantage the pivotally hung warpfeeler described in U. S. Patent No. 1,968,041 is employed on theshuttles, this providing rapid detection of warp jamming. The s samestop mechanism may also be employed to detect weft breakage, thedetector member described in U. S. Patent No. 2,019,608 beingparticularly suitable for use in this connection.

By way of example one form of loom in accordance with the presentinvention will now be described in greater detail with reference to theaccompanying drawing in which I Fig. 1 is a sectional view of one sideof the loom, and

' Fig. 2 is a'plan view showing-the details of Fig. 1.

In the drawing the warp threads I are disposed in the form of a cylinderand pass downwardly past lease rods 2 and a spacing comb 3 to sheddingwheels 4 and a shedding reed 5. The shedding wheels 4 and the sheddingreed 5 separate the warp threads I into two sheets between which aredisposed the shuttles 6. Below the shuttles 6 the fabric 1 is formed,and proceeds downwards past a fabric ring 8 to a fabric take-up device(not shown). The shuttles 6 are .held between the sheets of warp threadsby means of vane wheels 9 passing between warp threads on one side ofthe shuttle, and engaging with flanged rollers on the shuttles asdescribed in U. S. Patent No.- 2,050,328, The shuttle 6 is supported onthe other side by an annular race It) acting through the warp threadsupon a roller ll carried by the shuttle. The vane wheels are providedwith driving gears l2, l3 driven by a shaft 14 carrying a further gearl5 which engages with a stationary annular gear I6 carried on an annularring H. The vane wheels 9, gears l2, I3, l6 and shaft l4 are carried ona shuttle supporting ring l8 which is rotated by means of a gear l9mounted on a shaft 2| engaging with an'annular gear 20 beneath the ring.The rotation of the vane wheels 9 causes them to pass through the warpthreads and to engage with the shuttles 6 whereby the shuttles arecaused to rotate with the ring HI.

substantially to the inertiaof the ring l8, shuttles 8 and associatedparts.

The shaft 2| is driven from a motor 22 by means" ofa pulley 23 and abelt 24. Surrounding the shaft 22 is a clutch member 25 formedintegrally with a pulley 26 which is engaged by the belt 24- so that thepulley and the clutch member 25 are caused to rotate by the motor 22.The wclutch member 25 is supported freely on the shaft 2| by means of acollar 21. Beneath the'clutch member is an armature 28 slidably keyed tothe shaft 2| and supported a little below the clutch member 25 by meansof a collar 29. Within the member 25 are provided electrical windingsforming an annular ring round the shaft 2|, the windings 30 beingconnected to slip rings 3| engaged by contact brushes 32. Cork facings33 are provided between the faces of the armature 28 and the member 25.When current is running in the windings 30, the armature 29 is drawn upinto firm engagement with the clutch member 25, so that the clutchmember 25 is connected to the shaft 2|.

The contact brushes 32 are connected in series with a loom stop circuit,e. g. of the type described in U. 8. Patent No. 2,027,459 and Patent No.2,019,608, adapted to stop the loom on thread breakage or failure. Eachof the shuttles 8 is provided with a switch 34, the several switchesbeing connected in series by means of leads 35 and the whole series ofswitches being connected to stationary slip rings 31 by means of brushes38. Each of the switches 34 has a projectingtail 38 adapted to beengaged by means of a rod 39 carried by each of the shuttles. This rodis adapted to be pushed back on thread breakage or failure as describedin U. S. Patent No. 2,027,459, so as to open the corresponding switch.

One of the slip rings 3|'is connected to a'source of power 40. The otherslip ring 31 is connected through a switch 4| similar to the switches 34to an electro-magnet 42. The electro-magnet 42 is connected in turn toone of the contact brushes 32 while the other contact brush 32 isconnected to the other pole of the source of power 48 thus completingthe circuit. Around the edge of the ring I3 is provided a brake band 43operated by means of a lever 44 to one end 45 of which is attached apowerful spring 48 for applying the brake band 43 to the ring IS. Theend 45 of the lever 44, however, is normally held sothat the brake is inthe off position. We notch 41 in a lever 48. The lever 48 carries anarmature 49 which is attracted by the electro-mag net 42. A

spring 50 however is provided so that when the electro-magnet 42 isdeenergized the lever 48 is pulled back. The end 45 of the lever .44 isthen disengaged from the notch 41 and the brake band 43 is applied.

In operation, upon thread failure or breakage, the rod 39 on the shuttlenext encountering the failure or breakage is pushed back in the mannerdescribed in U. S. Patent No. 2,027,459. The rod 39 engages with thetail 38 of the corresponding switch 34 and breaks the electric circuit.As a result of this the electro-magnet 42 is deenergized and thebrake-band 43 is firmly applied to the edge of the ring l8 by means ofthe powerful spring 48. At the same time the current ceases to flowthrough the windings 30 within the clutch member 25, and in consequencethe armature 28 drops away from the member 25 on to the collar 29 andthe motor 22 is disconnected from the shaft 2 I. In this manner theinertia of the moving parts to be stopped by the action of the brakeband43 is greatly reduced and the loom is brought quickly to rest. When theloom is brought to rest the lever 48 engages the tail 5| of the switch4| and breaks the circuit at this point also. As a result the circuitcannot be remade until the brake-band 43 has been released, and thenotch 41 .on the lever 48 has been caused to engage with the end 45 ofthe lever 44 so as to hold the brakeafter the ring I 8 has been broughtto rest.

by Letters said ring, a closed stop circuit including saidvelectro-magnet and adapted to be opened on thread failure or breakage soas to cause said brake band to be applied to said ring, means fordriving said ring, shuttles and other associated parts and anelectro-magnetic friction clutch interposed in said drive, the windingsof said clutch being included in said closed circuit whereby on openingof said circuit .said electro-magnetic clutch is de-energized and theresistance to stopping of the parts to be brought to rest bysaid brakeband is reduced.

2. A circular loom for weaving with non-rotating warp threads,comprising weft shuttles completely surrounded by said warp threads andassociated parts carried upon a ring surrounding the warps and adaptedto rotate, a brake band surrounding said ring, a lever mechanism foroperating said brake band, an electro-magnet for controlling said levermechanism and adapted thereby to hold said brake band out of engagementwith said ring, a closed stop circuit including said electro-magnet andadapted to be opened on thread failure or breakage so as to cause saidbrake band to be applied to said ring, means for driving said ring,shuttles and other associated parts round the loom axis, anelectro-magnetic friction clutch interposed in said drive, the windingsof said clutch being included in said closed circuit whereby on' openingof said circuit said electro-magnetic clutch is de-energized and theresistance to stopping of the parts to be brought to rest by said brakeband is reduced, and a switch included in said circuit and controlled bysaid lever mechanism, said switch being opened by said lever mechanismautomatically when the stop mechanism is in operation to stop or preventweaving.

FRANK CORBYN HALE.

ROBERT YEADON.

